What have you done with my air gameplay

Except bursters are still as good as before at killing ESF's at the ranges they are going to be rockpodding.
The only difference is, you're not hitting them 2 HEX's away.

Oh, here I was thinking other things.

Lock on AA weapons have become the only way to keep flyboys on their toes. Keep in mind dual burster MAXes suppose currently only a deterrant for aircrafts at short , and a Skyguard is not always available. With the current prices, a MAX or a Skyguard cost more than an aircraft. Now add that aircraft are fast and maneuverable, which means aircrafts fill the skies in greather numbers than AA ground defenses. Therefore additional AA power is needed, which makes a no brainer for those infantry players compromised with teamplay to choose to give up on some good infantry combat in order to try to keep the skies clear.

I'm not trolling when I say lock on AA weapons, when no bugs are present, are fine. In my own experience as a dedicated AV grunt, the effectiveness of lock on weapons is directly proportional to the grade of incompetence of the target. No, seriously, good pilots don't seem to have many problems with lock on weapons, furthermore, against a good pilot, lock on weapons bring more frustration to their users than the target.

As an example, yesterday night on Miller, the advance of a full TR platoon towards Rashnu was stopped at Rush Mesa, while trying to reach Rashnu caves, by the combined efforts of Vanu ground and air forces. Despite there were a few DBMaxes and lock on grunts, that didn't prevent the constant bombing runs of DWG experienced pilots. They zoomed in from the skies, unloaded their rockets and, with their scythes roaring just a few meters above us, left disappearing in the horizon while sticking near the ground and using th terrain to avoid line of sight. A wisely use of flares and fast runs taking advantage of the superior speed and maneuverability of an aircraft compared with infantry, allowed this, and made really difficult to accquire a lock on target.

Current AA power is fine. If you're having a hard time against it, maybe you lack skill as a pilot. Therefore keep on trying and improve your skills or give up on flying and join the ground forces.

Not sure if that was sarcasm but you shouldnt be able to lock on a mossie with afterburn and im pretty sure you cant now

It is only a matter of time until bursters get buffed back, the flyboys only needs to do the regular ground farming routine for another week and the QQ will flood.

I think he's specifically talking aboot a2am. Give us an equally low skill/as spammable counter.

As an active infantry player, I can no longer pull more than 1 MAX in a long time, due to my infantry resources being used up by health kits and grenades (all utilized because needed), and eats up my MAX resources.

When I do have a MAX, he is back to swatting flies apparently. I usually waited until ESFs were in short range before firing them ( and finishing them off) anyways, but even now kills are 50%.

So many times, if air is plentiful, and since there is no other MAX's available either, I actually have to use my lockons just to deter aircraft, as is my role in-game as AV guy

And I hate lock ons. But now it has become a necessity to keep air from swarming. Sorry.

So in the last 24 hours you have cried about lock on missiles and now c4 that damage either your ESF or MBT. Does it not bother you how pathetic your endless crying looks?

Either l2p or play a different game. The problem is not this game.

Oh yeah because it requires so much aiming skill to shoot stuff with a huge spam of 14 rockets

stop trying to rationalize your frustration over getting killed, you can break LoS and use decoy to counter lock on and on top of that the range for the lock on is quite poor.

it's just another QQ like the tankers asking to nerf c4 , waaa waaa i was owning everything easly and then someone stopped me, waa waa

On my new VS toon I fly over NC (only lockon they have access to is the Hawk, Annihilator and A2AM) and nothing but constant lock indicators. You know something's wrong when that happens, why bother using Bursters or Skyguard now? Devs made these changes in the wrong fashion, now they're probably going to go change lockons or something of that effect.

Your own A2AM. It's not something empire-specific like the Striker FFS.

I disagree with this. Any time my Outfit pulls Armor, Im in a Skyguard. More often than not it keeps the skies clear, and can also be used as a tank mounted gatling gun on infantry at short - medium ranges. Ive even taken the win on a few 1v1s vs other Lighnings armed with HEAT shells. Its also useful on turrets, and does a little damage to all other armor, including Sundies. Several times now its been juuust that little extra damage needed to out DPS the Engie repairing while allies shell targets.

lockon are indeed very frustrating for both ground vehicle and air, either flares need to be made avalaible by default, and with reduced threshold btw consecutive shot, or the lockon itself need to be revisited, i'd say reducing the range would be a start.

To address the amount of lock-ons.. yes FAR too many. The devs REALLY screwed up by releasing all hte launcher varient prior to the ES launchers (of which TR has the only lock on.) The striker, imho, should be the only lock on infantry weapon. Worked in PS1, will work here too.

A2A lock ons need a reduction of the targeting reticle and the need to have the target constantly in said reticle in order to get the shot.

That being said, all I've noticed since GU11 is swarms of ESF's. So ya I pull my lock-on/burster.

Not at all. Its the fact that infantry can't survive using their brains and make use of the tons of AA available. So they need a spam. A thoughtless no brain weapon that they never will run short of no matter how many times they die.

If air was that incompetent, there would not be any air.

Try not spamming your nades and having a medic friend. I always have plenty of infantry resource.

You're right. I think his initial post is about skill-less pilots using A2A missiles. Which he is right about.

Seems like a pretty good solution to me.

I've gotten three hits so far with tower AV turrets and several with other slow-moving weapons not intended to catch aircraft. Even the engie's AV turret.. Hoverpodders are everywhere again, idk what this thread is about.

Yeah, the Striker should be nerfed or taken out of the game. Easymode lock-ons have no place in this game

Nothing would make me happier then if SOE decided to remove rocket-pods (which I blame for a large part of the ground vs air imbalances). But two wrongs does not make a right, HE, Zephyr, Rocketpods, they all fit into the category of skill-less weapons that cause more frustration then enjoyment, Lock-ons just happens to be the epitome of no-brainer.

I have no problem with the actual power of lock-ons, what bothers me is how little skill they require to use and master.

A2Am are harder to be dominant with than the nose gun. Very few have mastered them. But tons of pilots have mastered nose guns.

So we have basically a group of cry babies whining about something they are having trouble with from lesser pilots.

What a bunch of wimps. LOL

Learn to avoid them. All I did was run the rotary yesterday. Its much easier to be effective with than the A2Am. However with the lock on you are usually guaranteed a hit at least and if you hit an esf smoking then congrats, at least you get some bacon. Rather than just being bacon for good pilots.

Overall its pretty pathetic to hear good pilots whining about such a crappy overall weapon used as a main weapon.

And quite frankly it adds to the air game. Nose guns and fuel tanks are rather boring. I like to have the option of mixing it up.